New Arrest Warrant Issued Against Indigenous Anarchist Miguel Peralta

Update from the support group of ex-political prisoner, Miguel Peralta, whose freedom was recently revoked, and a warrant put out for his arrest.

Another arrest warrant has been issued against Miguel Peralta Betanzos, ex-political prisoner and anarchist, after being released in October of 2019, having survived nearly five years in prison.

Miguel Peralta, originally from the community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, is once again the target of political repression by representatives of the state in his region, who seek to return him to prison on fabricated charges. Miguel, together with 34 other people—seven of whom today remain in prison—was persecuted, processed, and imprisoned in Oaxaca for charges of homicide and attempted homicide. These fabricated charges were brought by the cacique family of his community who today are involved in the highest political spheres at both the state and national level, being active members of the political party in power.

Coinciding with that escalation of political power, in March of 2022 after more than two years since being released, a new court reopened his file and again ordered his arrest. He is to be detained and imprisoned in Oaxaca for fifty years, in whichever prison has space for him. This same conviction was already judicially and politically dismantled, when his release was ordered in October of 2019.

With this act, the political party that sustains power in Mexico reaffirms the political persecution against Miguel and other Indigenous people who defend their own forms of organization against a system of political parties occupied by cacique groups in Oaxaca. These cacique-political party groups work in complicity with the state and national justice system. Those who have already taken away four years of his freedom now want to take away fifty more.

It is worth mentioning that after Miguel’s release, he has continued denouncing the fabrication of crimes and unjust imprisonment of his seven imprisoned compañeros of Eloxochitlán, as well as the outstanding arrest warrants against others. He has not remained silent in the face of the carceral system, nor has he returned home to live peacefully and ignore the situation that his compañerxs are going through. For us, this is the clear reason for which the powerful consider it “necessary” and instructive that he returns to prison.

Neither do we omit that it is precisely prolonged imprisonment that states use as a strategy to combat their enemies. In the case of Mexico, incarceration is clearly oriented toward locking up land defenders and community organizers on one hand, and women who struggle against the patriarchal state on the other. Globally, the persecution against anarchists is demonstrated with long-term prison sentences, as is the case of the compañerxs in Italy who were recently sentenced, or the case of Gabriel Pombo da Silva, who was also returned to prison because it was considered that he still didn’t fulfill his debt to the Spanish State. This is just to mention a couple cases.

For all of this, we again call on the solidarity which has accompanied us all these years, to speak out against the fifty-year sentence and the political persecution against Miguel being carried out by the political party apparatus currently in power. We call on everyone to denounce the arrest warrant issued against him, and to demand the immediate freedom of the seven political prisoners of Eloxochitlán, along with the revocation of the arrest warrants against those displaced from their community due to the same conflict.

We ask everyone to be attentive to any attempt to arrest Miguel, or to do harm to him, his family, or lawyers.

Recognizing the context of impunity and criminalization in Oaxaca and the country as a whole, we hold responsible Elisa Zepeda Lagunas, and her father Manuel Zepeda Cortés, along with their entire cacique-political party group, for the political persecution, harassment, and repression unleashed against Miguel with this new sentence.

The amount of years in his sentence reflect the viciousness of persecution against those who struggle, filling us with rage and the courage to not give up.

Prisoners to the street!

#LibresYa

Support Group in Solidarity with Miguel Peralta Betanzos